A disgraceful 26 man brawl to finish off with. nearly cleaned out the SKY cameraman at one point. When the ref went to the video ref (Cummings) for advice I think he told him to send Sorensen and Tamati off.I thought the french guy did a good job tonight, certainly looked up to Terry Halibut's level. Might there be two french refs in SL next year?

Tuned in for the last 15 mins (stopped watching the whole Thurs games since annual P&R went up the spout)

Was a good end to the game and a great brawl

Proper Rugby League

I note that Fax's ground is looking great. If they can get to the NL1 final again surely they are a shoe-in for SL, unless Barrow win it. Widnes just haven't done enough on the pitch to merit consideration for SL and their stadium is not better than Fax's anymore

What is the score with youth set-ups in NL1. Don't all the top clubs in NL1 have an academy system?

I note that Fax's ground is looking great. If they can get to the NL1 final again surely they are a shoe-in for SL, unless Barrow win it. Widnes just haven't done enough on the pitch to merit consideration for SL and their stadium is not better than Fax's anymore

Once a Team / Club has qualified for the right to apply for Super League, which so far Widnes, Barrow and Fax have, then you don't get any more Licence points if you qualify again ( although i'm sure the RFL would look on your application more favourably. )

QUOTE (Lobbygobbler @ Jul 30 2010, 10:12 AM)

What is the score with youth set-ups in NL1. Don't all the top clubs in NL1 have an academy system?

Widnes do, can't answer for anyone else sorry.Maybe other CC Club's fans can let us know if they have or not ?

NB It's now called The Co-operative Championship, or CC for short. It hasn't been NL1 for around 3 years.

I note that Fax's ground is looking great. If they can get to the NL1 final again surely they are a shoe-in for SL, unless Barrow win it. Widnes just haven't done enough on the pitch to merit consideration for SL and their stadium is not better than Fax's anymore

I am not decrying the work Halifax have done to their ground which is a credit to them and would certainly put some Super League clubs to shame. However is you think that currently the Widnes stadium is no better than the Shay you need to visit both grounds and see if you are still of the same opinion.

As e neutral I enjoyed the game and was impressed by the style of play Matt Calland has encouraged at Halifax.

From what I saw - they deserve more folk getting of their butts and getting through the turnstiles - open rugby and very entertaining...

AND how fantastic it was to see a young French referee perform so well, I thought he was excellent and ran the game extremely well. Its great to see officials coming in from Europe and to me is an indicator of the interest in RL - keep them coming please!

Tuned in for the last 15 mins (stopped watching the whole Thurs games since annual P&R went up the spout)

Was a good end to the game and a great brawl

Proper Rugby League

I note that Fax's ground is looking great. If they can get to the NL1 final again surely they are a shoe-in for SL, unless Barrow win it. Widnes just haven't done enough on the pitch to merit consideration for SL and their stadium is not better than Fax's anymore

What is the score with youth set-ups in NL1. Don't all the top clubs in NL1 have an academy system?

You're sounding pathetic now. You shift one day to the next about which club instead of Widnes should be included at the next round of licensing.

You haven't really ever got it that it's not all about on the pitch. Widnes have ticked that box and concentrated on other matters. If it was purely about on the field we would have a better squad, simple as. The fact is that we are the only club that has spent this round of licensing trying to fit the criteria for Super League and that includes the youth and home grown players in the squad. No other club comes close to us on this.

Widnes are best placed for a license and as much that rankles with you it's true. We have and have had better crowds than the rest of the clubs in the division for at least a decade, we have a stadium that is bettered by no-one in the league and we have a proper youth policy. Of course it causes resentment amongst other fans but it doesn't change the fact.

So please stop with your absurd anti-Widnes posts blaming us for all the problems of the Championship. It's starting to sound as bad as your rectangular stadium issue although admittedly nowhere near as funny.

People on other Forums are whinging saying that it would be wrong for us to get a Licence from mid CC. The fact we have spent a wedge of our salary cap on signing and retaining the best Juniours in the area seems to pass them by. We have already satisfied the RFL's criteria on the playing front, by winning last years NRC. If we'd have kept a really strong team on the pitch, we wouldn't have a great Academy system, so would not have got a Licence. To Mr O'Connor it's all about following the RFL's guidelines, not satisfiying other Clubs fans.

And if we are talking about fast tracking Clubs from mid table, where exactly were London Broncos before being put into Super League ?

But do you expect the other clubs to be able to do this ? & fund ground redevelopments.

Lots of clubs have dissavantages like the Cumbrian clubs having to put travelling player's fuel or accomodation costs in the Salary Cap while having to cover the longer distances expenses etc.

Its all a huge mess this franchise malarky and the sooner its over the better.

Paying for a team bus and the occasional board is hardly the same as funding player contracts. Our squad has been weaker this year for the reason listed above. You can still afford Jamie Rooney. Widnes and Leigh are the sole clubs represented in lancs in the league so we have to do our fair share of travelling too.

People on other Forums are whinging saying that it would be wrong for us to get a Licence from mid CC. The fact we have spent a wedge of our salary cap on signing and retaining the best Juniours in the area seems to pass them by.

Yes when they are included in your squad. Widnes have a large number of their squad taken up with juniors purely to try and meet the criteria for Super League. These also come from a junior devleopment system that nobody else in the league is able to fund.

We could have just filled these spots with more experienced RL players from outside of Widnes but then that's not what franchising is supposed to be about is it?

But having a millionaire chairman willing to cover costs puts Widnes in a good place. I bet if SOC was not there, then Widnes would not have an academy or many of these Kids would be at Widnes. You could say you are very very lucky. But thats life. However the way Widnes fans go on about things they fail to see the difficulties, Fev, Leigh, Batley, Fax have with no money man throwing money to support them and why its very difficult running a Academy. Also Widnes may be in a good position to sign local players despite SL clubs presence due to SOC and the way Widnes are likely to be in SL from 2012. Other championship clubs do not have that luxury and often are left to sign the best of the rest from the local scene who often have little chance of being good pro players.

But having a millionaire chairman willing to cover costs puts Widnes in a good place. I bet if SOC was not there, then Widnes would not have an academy or many of these Kids would be at Widnes. You could say you are very very lucky. But thats life. However the way Widnes fans go on about things they fail to see the difficulties, Fev, Leigh, Batley, Fax have with no money man throwing money to support them and why its very difficult running a Academy. Also Widnes may be in a good position to sign local players despite SL clubs presence due to SOC and the way Widnes are likely to be in SL from 2012. Other championship clubs do not have that luxury and often are left to sign the best of the rest from the local scene who often have little chance of being good pro players.

Widnes fans have been through it at least as much as any other club in that and we fully appreciate the fortunate situation that we are in.

However it doesn't excuse other fans constantly trying to undermine the fact that we are best placed to go up. The likes of Lobby are just bitter and are trying to blame the problems of the championship on Widnes, the irony is that if we still had P and R then Widnes would be most likely to go up. We are the biggest club in a small pond and over time this inevitably tells under that system.